Downregulation of microRNA-132 is associated with liver metastasis of colorectal cancer by targeting Anoctamin 1.

In this study, we conducted a microarray-based analysis to identify differentially expressed miRNAs in CRC by comparing miRNA profiles among primary CRC tissues from patients with liver metastases, primary tissues without liver metastases, and liver metastatic lesions. microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to have a potential for cancer diagnosis lately. The main objective of this study is to identify a novel biomarker serum miRNA from the patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Microarray analysis of miRNA expression was performed using paired pre- and post- operative serum from 10 CRC patients. Two miRNAs (let-7a, miR-199a-3p) decreased significantly in the post-operative serum when compared to pre-operative serum (P=0.015 and 0.029, respectively). Microarrays were performed for the testing cohort of primary CRC lesions (n=28) and liver metastatic lesions (n=8).